Russia sends Ukrainian children to North Korea, where they are “re-educated”

Forbidden to speak Ukrainian, to speak to their families, Ukraine “does not exist”. Regional Center for Human Rights of Ukraine made the revelation in the US Senate. War in Ukraine is much more than simple geopolitics.

There are Ukrainian children to be sent by force to North Korea by Russia.

The revelation was made by Ukrainian authorities in the US Senate, where a systematic pattern of deportations, indoctrination and instrumentalization of minors in the context of war was described in detail.

The jurist at the Regional Center for Human Rights of Ukraine, Kateryna Rashevska, stated before a Congressional subcommittee that Kiev documented at least two cases of children from occupied territories who were transferred to the Songdowon camp, in North Korea, around 9,000 kilometers from their homes.

Misha, aged 12, from the Donetsk region, and Liza, aged 16, from Simferopol, Crimea, will have been exposed to ideological training: “they were taught to ‘destroy the Japanese militarists’ and met Korean veterans who, in 1968, boarded the US Navy ship USS Pueblo, killing and injuring nine American soldiers”, said the Ukrainian official.

The abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children by Russia are central issues in the context of the Russian invasion, and whose resolution is seen as fundamental to reaching a peace agreement.

The “restitution of all civilians detained and taken hostage, including children”, appears in point 24 of the most recent and in the plan by the European allies.

And this week, the United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution that demands from Russia the return of all Ukrainian children forcibly displaced or deported since 2014. The text, supported by 91 countries, also calls for an immediate end to new deportations, family separations, changes of citizenship, adoptions and forced foster care, as well as any form of ideological indoctrination aimed at minors.

The Ukrainian authorities estimate that more than 19,500 minors have been forcibly taken to Russia or to territories under Russian control. Of these, only 1,800 were located and repatriated. But at least 35,000 children, ages 8 months to 17 years, will be temporarily or permanently in Russia’s custody, Yale Humanitarian Research Laboratory Executive Director Nathaniel Raymond told a congressional subcommittee.

Many are held in camps and institutions where they are “reeducated”: they are prohibited from speaking Ukrainian, family connections are severed and a historical narrative is imposed on them in which Ukraine, as a nation and culture, does not exist. In , there are reports of military training and total isolation from abroad. Yale was only able to identify these camps thanks to a mistake made by Russian soldiers: they took selfies next to the children.

It is a constant accusation even from the Ukrainian president himself, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that thousands of Ukrainian children are taken by Russia. The new thing now is the destination: the most isolated nation in the world, a totalitarian hereditary dictatorship of which, here, only atrocities are known.

Ukrainian authorities describe the abductions as genocide. They talk about , beatings, reinstatements and even kidnappings for .

In June, Zelenskyy accused Russia of kidnapping Ukrainian children.

“We told them that they had stolen 20,000 children and they replied that there were not 20,000 — that at most, they said, it was a few hundred,” said the Ukrainian leader. I think it is more important not to focus on the number, but on the fact that they admit to taking children. We believe there are thousands, they say there are hundreds, but what matters is that they recognized the fact”.

“Eternal friendship”

The strong connection between Moscow and Pyongyang has become evident since the start of the invasion, almost four years ago, but especially evident under the strategic partnership treaty signed with Moscow in June 2024 and, of course, when it became known that Kim Jong-un sent, a year ago, around 12,000 North Korean troops to fight alongside the Russians, something that would only happen in April this year.

In June last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin returned to North Korea, 24 years later, to celebrate unity against the West.

In turn, hundreds of Russian soldiers headed towards Pyongyang, which will also be from Moscow, in exchange for long-range missiles, anti-aircraft missiles and “diversified economic assistance”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has even reinforced that in peace negotiations, in addition to all BRICS countries.